Brussels, 26 October 2018 - MEP Ana Gomes is in Georgia as part of the European Parliament's election observation mission to the presidential elections to be held this Sunday, 28 October.

The European Parliament's election observation mission comprises seven other MEPs who will be deployed in different regions of the country. MEP Ana Gomes will be deployed in the Gombori range, between Telavi and Gurjaani, in the Kakheti region, east of Tbilisi.

This is the last time that the President of Georgia is elected through direct universal suffrage. A constitutional reform in 2017 determined that the election will take place through an electoral college (composed of parliamentarians and municipal councilors) from 2024. These last presidential elections are being strongly contested by the 25 candidates and are mobilizing the interest of the citizens.

MEP Ana Gomes has been following closely the democratic process in Georgia since her role as the head of the European Parliament's election observation delegation to the parliamentary elections in 2016. Since then, MEP Ana Gomes has been the MEP responsible for Georgia within the remit of the European Parliament's Support Group for Democracy and Electoral Coordination, aiming at helping to promote the dialogue between the opposition and the government and at encouraging the parliamentary scrutiny and control in the country.

This is the third time that MEP Ana Gomes visits Georgia in 2018. In September, MEP Ana Gomes met in Tbilisi with civil society organizations, including human rights defenders and activists and the Public Defender of Georgia, Ms Nino Lomjari. Furthermore, early this month, MEP Ana Gomes visited once again Tbilisi to attend the Inaugural Plenary Session of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

As usual in elections taking place in one of the 57 participating States of the OSCE, the European Parliament's delegation is part of an international election observation mission which includes the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), and the parliamentary assemblies of the OSCE, the Council of Europe and NATO.

For further information:

Office of MEP Ana Gomes
+351 91 933 24 00
+ 32 (0) 2 284 7824
anamaria.gomes@europarl.europa.eu
https://twitter.com/AnaGomesMEP
https://www.facebook.com/anagomesmep

Parliamentary Activities
MEP Ana Gomes was elected for the first time to the European Parliament in 2004 and was re-elected in 2009 and 2014. She has been a member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament since 2004. MEP Ana Gomes is currently the Vice-President of the Special Committee on Financial Crimes and Tax Evasion and Tax Evasion (TAX3); a full member of the Parliamentary Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE); the Special Committee on Terrorism (TERR), and also the coordinator of the S&D for TERR; of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE); as well as the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (DMED) and the Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US).

MEP Ana Gomes is also a substitute member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and its Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI); as well as the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (DMAG); the Delegation for relations with Iraq (D-IQ) and the Delegation to the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly (DEPA).